The present invention relates to a rope or cable guide to be used in cooperation with a winch drum or the like whereby the cable passes through a slot in the guide and a hold down structure causes the rope to lodge in suitable grooves in the drum; moreover the rope guide will axially travel upon rotation of the drum being however secured against following the rotation itself.
A rope guide structure of the type generally referred to above is disclosed for example in Swiss Pat. No. 220,559 showing also a roller to force the rope into the drum groove. The rope may lift off the groove, for example whenever a load hook or other equipment suspended by the rope or cable are intercepted by an object situated rather close to the drum. In accordance with German Pat. No. 2,316,930 such lifting of a rope out of the grooves is prevented by a clamping ring made of a synthetic material having however a rather large space requirement. The entire rope or cable covers six loops. Certain ring halves as they are used here, are made of steel and they are connected in the area of the rope guiding slot; nevertheless these steel halves taken individually are still quite heavy and expensive. A large weight is of course a detrimental feature that shows up particularly during assembly and disassembly for purposes of repair maintenance or the like. Moreover the connecting strap of the edge adjacent to the slot has sharp edges limiting oblique displacement of the cable but if in fact the angle from a vertical position is too large the rope can actually be damaged. Another drawback of this known structure is that the steel halves must be continuously greased for sliding in the grooves.